Product tracing may allow the tracing of goods and/or parts across the partially or entirely reconstructed supply chain. Product tracing may allow the producer to recall certain batches in case of quality problems or defects that may jeopardize product reliability. Product tracing may be an expensive and difficult task, as supply chains may be long and involve several manufacturers/producers and several different materials. Furthermore, materials from different batches may contribute to a single batch of a finished product. Thus, when a recall is issued, many suppliers and many batches may be involved.
Product tracing may be used by different industries. For example, tracing may be used in food products and pharmaceuticals, to enable food product and pharmaceutical recalls if rotten ingredients contaminate certain food batches or pharmaceutical batches. Tracing may be used for quality assurance, for example, in the automotive, aerospace and other industries. Also, laws and regulations have been enacted regarding product traceability. For example, in Europe batch recalls are enforced through European Union (EU) regulation 178/02, and in the United States they are enforced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Current product tracing solutions may not enable the supply chain privacy desired by producers and manufacturers. The public availability of product tracing information may allow competitors or even collaborators to inspect a producer's supply chain and make an assessment of the producer's logistics or product capabilities, even without any recalls having been issued. Some product tracing solutions may slowly react to product recalls due to an enormous communications overhead. Consequently, producers may desire a solution that enables supply chain secrecy to protect supply chain logistics and product capabilities. Suppliers also may desire a solution that enables faster product recalls without an enormous communications overhead.